Fire-Resistant Landscaping

Friday

Aug 16, 2013 at 5:47 AMAug 16, 2013 at 6:36 AM

Micki Brown, Mojave Gardner

With recent news of raging wildfires, including one in our local mountains, I thought it might be a good time to offer some fire-resistant landscaping advice. For those who live in areas where wildfires are a real possibility, it is good idea to maintain a defensible space around your homes and incorporate fireresistant plant materials in your landscaping.

The Colorado State University Extension offers the following great information to protect your home from wildfires: "Vegetative clearance around the house (defensible space) is a primary determinant of a home's ability to survive wildfire. Defensible space is, simply, room for firefighters to do their job. If grasses, brush, trees and other common fuels are removed, reduced or modified to lessen a fire's intensity and keep it away from the home, chances increase that the structure will survive. It is a little-known fact that in the absence of a defensible space, firefighters will often bypass a house, choosing to make their stand at a home where their safety is more assured and the chance to successfully protect the structure is greater."

Consider the following factors, courtesy of the CSU extension, when planning, designing and planting a "Fire Wise" landscape within your home's defensible space:

• Landscape according to the recommended defensible-space zones. That is, the plants near your home should be more widely spaced and lower growing than those farther away.

• Do not plant in large masses. Instead, plant in small, irregular clusters or islands.

• Use decorative rock, gravel and stepping stone pathways to break up the continuity of the vegetation and fuels.

• Incorporate a diversity of plant types and species in your landscape. Not only will this be visually satisfying, but it also should help keep pests and diseases from causing problems within the whole landscape.

• In the event of drought and water rationing, prioritize plants to be saved. Provide available supplemental water to plants closest to your house.

• Use mulches to conserve moisture and reduce weed growth. Mulch can be organic or inorganic. Do not use pine bark, thick layers of pine needles or other mulches that readily carry fire.

Don't forget about maintenance. A landscape is a dynamic system that constantly grows and changes. Plants considered fire-resistant and which have low fuel volumes can lose these characteristics over time. Your landscape, and the plants in it, must be maintained to retain their "Fire Wise" properties.

• Be aware of the growth habits of the plants within your landscape and of the changes that occur throughout the seasons.

• Remove annuals and perennials after they have gone to seed or when the stems become dry.

• Rake up leaves and other litter as it builds up throughout the season.

• Mow or trim grasses to a low height within your defensible space. This is particularly important as grasses become dry.

• Remove plant parts damaged by snow, wind, frost or other agents.

• Timely pruning is critical. Pruning not only reduces fuel volumes but also maintains healthier plants by producing more vigorous, succulent growth.

The moisture content of plants is an important consideration because high levels of plant moisture can lower fire risk and act as a heat sink, reducing the intensity and spread of fire.

Succulents such as Sedum or Ice Plant are also good choices for fireresistant groundcovers on banks and hillsides.

Happy gardening!

High Desert resident Micki Brown is a droughttolerant plant specialist with an M.S. in Plant Science. Send her questions to be answered in the column, and garden-related events at HorticultureHelp@aol.com